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New York City To Hire Diallo Killer
WASHINGTON, April 15 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Muslim and minority firefighters and leaders expressed outrage Saturday over New York City fire department plans to hire one of the four police officers who killed Amadou Diallo, an unarmed Muslim immigrant from Africa, in a 1999 shooting incident.
Officer Edward McMellon fired 16 of the 41 shots at Diallo, an immigrant Muslim street vendor, as he was entering his home in Bronx on February 4, 1999. McMellon was acquitted but still faces departmental disciplinary action.
The New York Times, which first broke the story Saturday, reported that McMellon, who placed 188th out of 6,000 candidates in a fire department entrance exam, would probably start training this summer.
Kevin James, president of the Islamic Society of Fire Department Personnel, said members of his organization were "livid" when they heard about the plans to hire McMellon. He said the potential hiring of the officer was shocking "against the backdrop of a fire department that is 95% male white."
"You have apartheid right here in this fire department," James said.
Saikou Diallo, father of Amadou, said, "I wish and I pray that the fire commissioner understands that McMellon is a murderer.
"He murdered my son."
He said hiring McMellon would be "polluting your good reputation. You're tainting your department."
The Vulcan Society, a fraternal group of 300 black firefighters, described the possible McMellon hiring as "an insult to all firefighters and New Yorkers" and criticized Mayor Giuliani for supporting the move.
Lt. Paul Washington, president of the Vulcan Society said, "Clearly, [McMellon] has shown a complete lack of judgment. This is not someone you would want in a life-or-death situation. He has shown that he cannot handle any type of job where there is any type of pressure."
Accusing the fire department of double standards, Washington said that the department would not even think about hiring a black man who had been arrested and tried for murder.
"It's a double standard. They talk about high standards, and there is no way a black man in this case would be allowed to be a firefighter."
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